Harry woke up before the sun had even risen; unfortunately it wasn't because he wanted to get up but because someone was trying to get passed his charms. He had sensed that someone was messing with them while he was asleep and it had woken him up. He grabbed his sunglasses (which will from now on only be referred to as glasses only) and saw that it was Neville. He looked at the clock beside his bed and let out a soft sigh. It was barely 5:15 in the morning; well he did say he wanted to get up early. Just as he had decided to get up he felt the shutting charm fall.
Before Neville even pulled on them he had said, "Hi Neville."
"Oh good your up, I just wanted to tell you that I might be busy today so not to worry about me."
Harry found it oddly suspicious but looking into Neville's eyes told him that he had managed to find Ginny after he had talked to her last night and had arranged to spend the day with her. Harry wasn't about to begrudge him his happiness so he nodded his head groggily. Neville was already walking away when Harry remembered what he wanted to get up early for.
"Neville wait come back." Neville stopped and walked back to Harry. Harry then cast a privacy charm around the two of them. He knew that walls had ears. "I want you to sign up for every self taught class that you can, and if you run into Parvati, Dean, Terry, Susan, Padma, Luna, Katie, the Creevy brothers, Ernie, Justin, and Hannah to come by and see me separately. And make sure that they are alone when you tell them, no one must know that we are planning something."
"Harry classes aren't cheap you know, I have enough for sure, but what about some of the others might not be able to offered it. That's what you're going to tell them right?"
"You're half right, besides some of them aren't even going to take NEWT classes this year. Just tell them to come and see me alright?"
"Yeah sure."
"Oh yeah and since your going to visit Ginny tell her to come by and talk to me later today."
Neville blushed as he walked away.
Harry then began to get ready, he needed to be where the others could find him so he could tell them his master plan. After a quick shower and a shower and a quick change of cloths he was ready to head out. He was dressed in yet another cloak that covered his face. He didn't want people to know what he looked like until he had to, besides he thought, it'll be fun to see there surprised faces. His first stop was the Great Hall. He figured that since today was the day to sign up for NEWT classes, that everyone would try to get into the Hall as early as possible to see what everyone else was planning to take. At least that's what he figured must have happened all of the other years. He had always wondered why all of the sixth years seemed to get up early for the first day of class but he didn't really care about that now.
His suspicions were confirmed when he spotted a few of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs already seated at their house tables. And just as he had asked of Neville, he was there talking to the select few that Harry would give the opportunity to aide in his next grand scheme. Neville had just finished talking to Susan Bones it seemed because she immediately rushed over to him.
She tried to creep up to him so as to not arouse suspicion and whispered quietly, "what's going on, are we going to have the DA again. Oh I knew you wouldn't stop just because we don't have that cow Umbridge anymore. We still need all the practice that we can get."
He cast a quick privacy charm. "I'm sorry to inform you Susan but I will have nothing to do with Dumbledore's Army this year, or any other year for that matter. I have of course come up with something else but we will get to that in a moment. No I have something else I would rather discuss right now and something that I know I could use your assistance with. If it won't be too much of a problem of course?
We need to address a real issue in the wizarding world that is highly overlooked. I feel that it is our responsibility to inform the wizarding world of the truth. With the Prophet and The Quibbler being the major publications there is little to no truth for people. It's an injustice and a heinous crime. You've seen how the Daily Prophet slandered against me, and Dumbledore to I suppose, last year. It is run by the ministry, the same ministry that hid the fact that Voldemort (she flinched, he couldn't say tom because she wouldn't know who he was talking about) was indeed back last year and the same ministry that will try to hide more things from us in the future.
We must step forth and change that, and the only way that this can happen is if we do it ourselves. You have seen what happens when we leave things in the hands of the ministry and worse that rubbish that the Prophet like to call news. As you have no doubt guessed I am proposing that we make our own paper, one that speaks only the truth, that doesn't hide unnecessary things from the public and that will give everyone a chance to defend themselves. This won't be some petty school paper Susan, if things work as I believe that they will this may very well become the most revered paper in the wizarding world.
It will all have to be done in secret, for security reasons of course, but secret none the less. I am giving you the chance to have a pivotal role in the paper, are you willing to accept."
"Harry I mean it's great and all but I mean do you really think that I can do it. I'm rubbish at writing."
"You wouldn't be expected to write, though I'm sure you will if you except, Susan you will be an editor and a consultant, you will be the go to person. I won't lie to you Susan I will have very little to do with the paper other than funding it and writing in a story or two. I will most likely leave it to you and Neville."
"So you want me to be in charge?"
"Well you and Neville for the most part but I would have final say in some of the publications. There are some things that would endanger people should others find out about it, like Dumbledore's Order for example. Some things unfortunately cannot be told, but those that can will."
"Are you sure about this Harry..."
He cut her off before she could finish. "I am and whether you help or not it will go as planned but it would make things easier for us if you decided to help."
"Why did you pick me to be in charge?"
"You know more things than most people because of your aunts position in the Ministry and because of her involvement in the Order. I am hoping that you can convince her to be one of your informants."
He could tell that she wasn't satisfied with that answer so he took a peek into her mind to see what would please her. It didn't take but a half second to find. When she came to Hogwarts she had begun writing short stories for amusement and had always wanted to write a book. "I've also heard that you have a talent for writing, regardless of the fact that you think you're rubbish, you aren't. At least not according to others, and it is a not an uncommonly known fact that you want to write a book one day. This could give you a start."
He knew instantly that that was the type of answer she was looking for. "Alright Harry you've got yourself a partner." She stuck out her hand for him to shake and he did. "How are we going to pull this off Harry there's going to be so many things that we're going to need and then we have to get reporters and journalist....."
Once again he didn't let her finish, "There will be people that can be trusted helping you along the way. Don't worry it will all be taken care of. I think the paper should be called The High Inquisitor in mock honor of the ministry's latest foul up. What do you think?"
"It sounds perfect, when will I meet everyone who is supposed to help?"
"You won't." She gave him a shocked look so he knew that he should elaborate. "We can't have anyone know who else is doing what because it would put all of us at risk. I wasn't kidding when I said that it had to be secret, it shall be so secret that only I will ever know who all is really working for the paper. Oh did I mention that you will get paid a percentage of all the money that is made. I wouldn't want you to think that you would be working so hard for free. I'll set everything up using drop off points that change frequently for people to leave there articles that way no one will ever see who else is working but me and perhaps Neville as he is already aware of who will be asked.
But I would, and have, trusted Neville with my life so I have no qualms about letting him know what is going on. I've already thought of a system that would work in getting us out to the public. For the first few weeks we will send the paper out free of charge but then after that we will start charging people to read it. By then they should be comfortable with us and it will give them enough time to see that we don't just spread lies and rumors because they will see the events unfold right before their eyes."
Susan had a calculating look on her face, "it's a rather brilliant idea."
"Of course. Now that that's taken care of we can get on to other matters." He paused for dramatic affect. "You said that you wanted to continue with the DA." She got a faint smile. "Unfortunately that is not possible," she got a crestfallen look, "but I have something else in mind. You will undoubtedly be signing up for most of the NEWT level classes won't you?"
"Yes."
"Undoubtedly, now what I want is for you to sign up for all of the others as self taught classes. You will not be expected to learn them all nor do I think it possible to do, but never the less it will make whatever you do learn completely legal."
"You mean you want me to sign up for self taught Intro to the Dark Arts don't you."
She caught on quickly, "Yes, but not only that we must learn everything that we can. We are about to face hard times Susan, surely you can see the need for such measures."
She had a sad look on her face, one look told him that Neville had infact been right and that some of the people definitely wouldn't have the money to sign up for all of the classes, not because they didn't have the money but because he didn't give them a warning to bring more. "You won't be expected to pay for the classes of course, because you will be paying me pack with the proceeds that will inevitably come from the paper so don't worry about the cost. It's not as if you wouldn't have been able to pay for it if I had warned you sooner. I'm sure you would have but since I didn't I must ask you to sincerely this money and learn what I can teach you."
He placed a small money bag next to her and walked away. He didn't want to give her a chance to argue. As he walked away he focused one eye on his rear view. She stared at the money for a while before she got a resolved look on her face and took it. He knew instantly that he had a new ally.
Harry repeated the same talk over and over again to Parvati, Ginny, Dean, Terry, Padma, Luna, Katie, the Creevy brothers, Ernie, Justin, and Hannah. It was a small start but one none the less. The easiest to convince by far were the Creevy brothers. Colin in particular was a must for the paper. They needed someone who skilled at taking pictures. Harry figured that he must have some acquired some talent from all of those pictures that he had taken of him over the years, besides Colin knew how to brew the potion that would make the pictures move about. Harry knew how to of course, as did Neville, but he didn't want to have to make it every other day when half of it would be wasted on useless pictures anyway. So Colin was a shoo in.
Harry knew that he didn't have to worry about anyone giving out there secrets because he had looked every single one of them in they eye and knew that they would always be on his side. Harry didn't really understand the blind faith they had in him, but he could see the resemblance between them and the Order of the Phoenix. They Order blindly followed Dumbledore thinking he knew best. While his new little group, which didn't really have a name yet, did the same for him. The only difference was that he wasn't going to lie or keep things from them like Dumbledore did, no he would be as honest with them as physically possible.
It was a little after the other years left the great hall that Dumbledore stood raised his wand, and with long curvy loops, conjured a few tables at the end of the hall. Shortly there after more than a dozen ministry employees walked in to the school, and began arranging themselves into separate clusters. There was apparition, introduction to healing magic/blood magic, Enchantments, Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts, and introduction to the Dark Arts (self study only), Potions, Charms, Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, Conjuring (a self study), Animagi training, Muggle studies, Astronomy, Divianation, Herbology, and a few relatively boring classes like History of Magic.
The students were instructed to form a line for each of the classes that they would like to participate in and wait to sign up. Once they were finished they were to wait for everyone to finish and then they would all receive their scheduals.
Everyone broke into their respectable lines, sadly no one headed to the Dark Arts class, it seemed that no one, not even Malfoy, wanted to be stared at and declared evil by the rest of their classmates. Harry who had no qualms about looking bad in front of others, mostly because they had been calling him evil for ages didn't feel the slightest sense of guilt when he walked up to the man and signed up for the class. Neville followed immediately after, then Susan and the rest of his little entourage. They were quickly followed by Malfoy and his gang of thugs, which was then closely followed by Pansy Parkison and Blaise Zambini. Harry had hoped to talk to her later that evening since he couldn't now because he didn't think that she would appreciate being brought out to the center of attention in the middle of the great hall.
He went about his business and signed up for everyclass. No one really cared that he signed up for everything, it seemed that as long as the ministry employees got paid, they didn't care who was doing what. Neville and the others also followed the same routine.
It was an insult to Harry's senses that he managed to miss the fact that Hermione and Weasley hadn't even been in the great hall yet. It was only once he was done that he noticed them walk into the room and quickly sign up for the regular NEWT classes. They didn't sign up for a single class that was selftaught. Harry had figured that Hermione would have singed up for at least 3 others but he didn't really care. Hermione didn't look happy at all
She made to move in his direction and while she looked at him he saw that they had had a meeting with the order just a while ago. He quickly made a polite exit yet again avoiding the inevitable confrontation.
Hermione did not have a very good day. She had tried to repeatedly find Harry so that she could talk to him only to find out that he had conveniently left just seconds before she arrived every time. He didn't attend a single class which had her frantically worried about whether he was ok or not only to find out that he didn't even have to attend classes because he had signed up for self-study courses only. So not only was he ignoring her, he had found a way to ensure that she wouldn't be able to make contact with him and when she had called a DA meeting it resulted in her and a handful of others waiting an hour before they decided that no one else would come and that it was pointless to stay.
To top it all off her parents had adamantly refused to send her money to take extra classes. And Although Headmaster Dumbledore tried to get her to take some of his money, she politely refused. As opposed to Ron who refused in a not so polite tone. So she couldn't even loose herself in endless amounts of homework because she was already done with everything that needed to be done, the library was closed, she was already to far ahead in all of her classes, and Harry was still no where to be found.
Harry left the room with a list of every class available with a little heading marked Self-study for all of them. It was with a fond smile that he walked into moaning Mertyl's bathroom. He had decided that it would probably be better for him not to stay in the Gryffindor tower because people would undoubtedly ask him questions when he returned. So the only logical place for him to stay in would be the Chamber of Secrets, because one, only he could get in there, and two, because he wanted to see if the basilisk was still there. He had learned how to sew in the room of time and after wearing dragon hide cloaks he wanted to find out if he could wear some basilisks one's too. He had decided that it would probably be a good idea to send a fang to Olivander for letting him purchase a second wand so he also had that for an incentive.
Harry spent the greater part of the day saying scourgify over and over and over and over again. It paid off in the end however because he now had a nice clean place that would eventually be his own. The only problem was that he couldn't figure out where to put the basilisk. But he would figure that out later. He got a bed and a few other house hold items form the room of requirements so he had a place to sleep.
He wasn't particularly happy with the fact that Mertyl kept interrupting his work all day but he figured that he would eventually get used to her. He had spent most of his day cleaning the room, but when he wasn't Hermione somehow always managed to find him. Luckily, or unluckily for her, Harry could sense her so he didn't have to worry about running in to her. If at all possible Harry didn't want to have to say a word to her all year.
He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard his stomach grumble. He hadn't eaten since breakfast because he didn't want Hermione to find him. But now it was well past curfew so he figured it would be safe for him to head to the kitchens for a snack.
He threw on the cloak and headed for the kitchen. He could have easily just avoided people but he didn't want to have to bother to go out of his way. He took a turn here and there, until he eventually reached the kitchen. It was right before he entered that he sensed someone was already in there. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, like he got when someone he didn't like approached, it was more of a soft sigh type feeling. With his curiosity peeked Harry walked into the kitchen to find none other than Blaise Zambini.